Temple of Heaven

I started off the morning searching the internet for any "deals" on Olympic tickets. After yesterday's $1,500+ for USA-China basketball tickets, I guess everything looks like a "deal" now.

My friends headed to the Silk Market for some shopping while I headed to the Temple of Heaven by myself. I am really surpised how not overcrowded these top attractions have been.

Unfortunately the smog really obscures the colors from a distance. You can see how brilliant the colors are in this close up:





While I was walking in the park towards the temple, I saw a TV crew wearing KSL shirts. I asked them if that was KSL as in Salt Lake City and that started our conversation.Long story short, I'm going to be part of Amanda Butterfield's piece on how to pronounce "Beijing" properly, so if you happen to see the report, you can see me speaking my broken Chinese, asking Chinese people to say "Beijing" and then explaining in English how Chinese is a tonal language.She said it would be on the 6:30 and 10:00 editions of the news programs, and most likely it will be on their website as well.




I had a blast watching the various groups of older Chinese people singing, playing cards, dancing, and playing some form of chess. I spent quite a bit of time just watching them, until they said something about me, thinking that I didn't understand, and that gave me the invitation to talk with them. It surprises Chinese everytime to see a "foreigner" speaking Chinese.

Singing:

Playing cards:

Dancing:

Playing chess:

I then headed back to Wangfujing Street to see what people were up to... it was a sight! There were large contingents from various countries that had grouped together to watch the Opening Ceremony on the outdoor large screen TVs. I'm not sure where the Americans were hanging out, but it wasn't there. Nonetheless, it was just fun to walk through, get asked to take pictures with Chinese, and chat with different folks for a bit.


I met up at my friend's place and four of us are watching the Opening Ceremony as only CCTV can deliver! The performances were pretty impressive.